Window locking and antirattling device



Nov. 30, 1954 L. B. WATTS 2,695,804

WINDOW LOCKING AND ANTIRATTLING DEVICE Filed April 28, 1952 JAE' 'ETIEUE21 lanazswfiuzzziis fli'iamays United States Patent WINDOW LOCKING ANDANTIRATTLING DEVICE Leland B. Watts, Lethbridge Alberta, CanadaApplicationApril' 28, .1952,Serial No. 284,793

3 Claims. (Cl.-292213) The present invention relates to a v simpledevice for locking aloosely fittedwiridow sash'which is verticallyslidable in a window .ca sing. llhe device also prevents rattling of,the window sash with respect to its casing.

The'windows of many cottages,'ficabins, and. low-cost houses are notcounter=balanced, and often merelyconsist of a stationaryupper sectionand a movable lower sash whichis mounted for vertical sliding in thewindow casing. Since the slidable sash is usually quite loosely fittedin the window casing, some precautions must be taken against rattling ofthe window in its casing; and since the sash is not counter-balanced,some means is required for holding the window up when it has beenopened. The device of my invention fulfills both these functions, andadditionally serves to lock the window in its fully closed position,thus eliminating the need for any additional locking means.

My invention broadly resides in a device for locking in an open or inthe closed position and for preventing rattling of, whether open orclosed, a window sash which is vertically slidable in a window casing,the said device comprising a plate securable in said casing adjacent oneof the stiles of said slidable sash; an arm pivotally mounted on saidplate at a point intermediate the ends of the arm, one of the ends ofsaid arm being bifurcated to form a pair of prongs; and a pair ofrollers formed of resilient material rotatably mounted upon said arm atthe end opposite said prongs, said rollers being disposed adjacentopposite corners of the end of the arm.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of theinvention:

Figure 1 is a view of the window locking and antirattling device of myinvention showing the device holding the slidable sash of the window inthe locking-closed position;

Figure 2 is a view somewhat similar to Figure 1, but shows the deviceholding the window in the lockingopen position;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the device on an enlarged scale.

The Figures 1 and 2 show a part of a conventional window of the typementioned in the second paragraph of this specification. While the partsshown will be immediately recognized by those skilled in the buildingand carpentry arts, they will be briefly referred to here so that thepoint of application of the device of my invention will be made clear toall. Reference character A generally indicates the stationary uppersection of the window, and reference character B the vertically slidablelower section of the window, while reference character C has beenapplied to the window casing.

The stile and the meeting rail 11 of upper section A, and the meetingrail 12 and stile 13 of the slidable lower section B, may be noted inthe drawings. In the 'case of the window casing C, the frame 14, stop15,

and parting bead 16 all appear. All the elements so far mentioned inconnection with the drawings are of quite conventional construction andtherefore need not be described in detail.

Rigidly secured to stop of window casing C is a generally rectangularplate 16. The plate is secured to the stop by means of a plurality ofscrews 17. An arm 18 is pivotally mounted on plate 16 at a point 19intermediate the ends of the arm. The arm 18 is swingable in a planegenerally parallel to the major plane of plate 16. a pair of prongswhich have been labelled 2t and 21.

One of the ends of arm 18 is bifurcated to provide 3 Rollers 22 and- 23are rotatably mounted upon said arm at the end opposite the prongs20-and 21, and disposed adjacent opposite corners .of the said end ofthe arm.

Arm 18 may beplaced in the neutral position in which it, is horizontallydisposed, with each of its rollers 22 and 23 out of contact with thestile 13. While the arm is in this position, the lower window section Bmay be raised and lowered without interference from the device of the.invention. To holdxthe arm 18 in the neutral position, .I prefer toprovide a pair of projections 24 and. 25 adjacent the vertical edge ofplate 16 remote from stile 13. These projections are arranged to bearagainst opposite sides of arm 18 at a point intermediate its ends, and:thus bias saidarm to maintain the neutral position. Later on in thisspecification, and in the accompanying claims, I use the termsuppermost? and lowermost in connection with the prongs and the rollers.In so doing I refer to therelative positions occupied by theseel'ementswhen thearm 18 is in the neutral position just described.

Arm 18*may be swung upwardly through some from theneutralhorizontalposition to a locking-open position, in which theraised sash is held open by the uppermost prong 20 hearing against stile13 (see Figure 2). Prong 20 is resiliently held in tight engagement withthe sash when in the locking-open position by the uppermost roller 22,since the resilient material thereof is distorted by pressure againstthe sash during achievement of said locking-open position.

Arm 18 is downwardly swingable through some 90 from the neutralhorizontal position to a locking-closed position in which the lowersection B is held closed by the lowermost prong 21 bearing against thestile 13, prong 21 being held in tight engagement with stile 13 by thelowermost roller 23, whose resilient material is distorted by pressureagainst stile 13 during the achievement of said locking-closed position.

In connection with the locking-closed of the lower window section B, Iprefer to rigidly secure a plate 26 to the face of stile 13 at a pointjust below the point of contact of prong 21 with stile 13, when thedevice is in the locking-closed position. It will be appreciated thatwith a plate, bar, or the like, located as just described, if anyattempt is made to open the closed and locked window from the outside,this attempt will be thwarted by the fact that the plate 26 will jamagainst lowermost prong 21. Since further upward prying of the windowfrom the outside can only be accomplished when accompanied by rotationof arm 18 in an anticlockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 1, it willbe realized that further opening of the window will be ruled out, unlessthe force applied is sufliciently great to actually break the lockingdevice.

I recommend that the rollers 22 and 23 should not be freely rotatablymounted with respect to the arm 18. I prefer to so mount the rollersthat considerable friction, or some other force, must be overcome whenturning the rollers. I have found that where there is considerableresistance to turning of the roller 22, there is less tendency for prong20 to dig into the wood of the stile 13 when the device is in thelocking-open position. The fact that the locking device forces the stile13 into firm frictional contact with the parting strip 16 also serves toreduce any tendency the prong 20 may have to dig into the stile 13.

I do not recommend the use of the locking device of my invention inconnection with heavy, slidable window units. Exceptionally heavywindows are, in any event, usually counter-balanced. However, if forsome reason, it was desired to use the device of the invention for thelocking of a heavy window, a plurality of bars or plates, such as plate26, could be secured at vertically spaced intervals on the face of stile13, and prong 20 could be brought to bear against the lower edge of aplate or bar selected to give the desired degree of opening of thewindow.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A device for locking in an open or in the closed position, and forpreventing rattling of, whether open or closed, a window sash which isvertically slidable in a 0 window casing, said device comprising agenerally rectangular plate adapted to be rigidly secured to one of thevertical walls of said casing adjacent one of the stiles of saidslidable sash; an arm pivotally mounted on said plate at a pointintermediatevthe ends of the arm, said arm being swingable in a planegenerally parallel to the major plane of said plate, one of the ends ofsaid arm being bifurcated to form a pair of prongs; and a pair ofrollers formed of resilient material rotatably mounted upon said arm atthe end opposite said prongs, said rollers being disposed adjacent theopposite corners of their end of the arm, the distances between each ofthe rollers and the point of pivotal mounting of said arm being suchthat one of said rollers will be forced in contact with said one stile,and the resilient material of the roller distorted by such contact,whenever said arm is swung through any appreciable angle from a neutralhorizontal position, in which both rollers are adjacent but out ofcontact with said sash; said arm being upwardly swingable through some90 degrees from said neutral position to a lockingopen position in whichthe raised sash is held open by the uppermost prong bearingthereagainst, the said prong being resiliently held in tight engagementwith the sash by the uppermost roller whose resilient material isdistorted by pressure against the sash during the achievement of saidlocking-open position; said arm being downwardly swingable through some90 degrees from said neutral horizontal position to a locking-closedposition in which the sash is held closed by the lowermost prong bearingagainst said stile, the said prong being held in tight engagement withthe stile by the lowermost roller whose resilient material isdistortedby pressure against said stile during achievement of saidlocking-closed position.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, and including a pair of projectionsadjacent the vertical edge of said plate remote from said slidable sash,said projections being arranged to bear against opposite sides of saidarm at a point intermediate its ends and hold said arm in said neutralposition.

3. A device as defined in claim 1, and including a plate rigidly securedto the face of said stile at a point just below the point of contact ofsaid lowermost prong with a said stile when in the locking-closedposition, whereby any attempt made to open the closed window fromwithout will be thwarted by jamming of said second plate against saidlowermost prong.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,097,228 Holland May 19, 1914 1,358,611 Black Nov. 9, 19201,841,890 Hannon Jan. 19, 1932

